CONCERT Network _A_d_d_r_e_s_s: CONCERT Network MCNC 3021 Cornwallis Road P.O. Box 12889 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 _E_m_a_i_l: info@concert.net _P_h_o_n_e: (919) 248-1999 _D_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n CONCERT (COmmunications for North Carolina Education, Research, and Technology) is a private telecommunications network owned and operated by the Center for Communications at MCNC to interconnect universities, research institutions, graduate centers, non-profit organizations, government laboratories, and industries in North Carolina, permitting timely participation in research and education projects. The CONCERT Network Operations Center is located at MCNC in Research Triangle Park. CONCERT is actually two networks; one for video, one for data. Both are carried over CONCERT's private microwave facilities that span 453 path miles from Asheville in the west to Greenville in the east. CONCERT OBJECTIVES o+ Provide and operate an advanced communications network for research and education. o+ Build a collaborative university and industry program. o+ Serve as a test bed for next-generation services and systems. _________________________ The information in this section is provided in accor- dance with the copyright notice appearing at the front of this guide. September 1, 1992 NNSC Section 5.23, Page 1 o+ Participate in the deployment of National Research and Education Network (NREN) for North Carolina. o+ Develop high-performance capabilities in visualiza- tion, supercomputing, and distributed systems. VIDEO NETWORK CONCERT utilizes two duplex analog NTSC video channels that function as a multi-way, interactive videoconferencing net- work to encourage research, education, and technology transfer. An additional duplex video channel connects the state's four medical schools. The interactive video chan- nels provide face-to-face communications capabilities among all institutions. Each institution has videoconference and video teleclass facilities. Specific programs and applications include: o+ videoconferencing capabilities for researchers and faculty; o+ graduate and extension courses in a variety of discip- lines; o+ seminars in supercomputing and high-performance compu- tation; o+ research collaborations among members of the research community; o+ scientific and technical seminars and workshops; and o+ medical courses and programs. Sixty percent of the available video network time is booked for courses and regularly scheduled seminars, with the remaining time reserved for meetings and conferences. This open time provides researchers and faculty the opportunity to meet as required with little prior notice. DATA NETWORK The CONCERT data network functions as a mid-level TCP/IP network providing access to the INTERNET, a collection of data networks across the nation and world interconnecting universities, government agencies, national laboratories, September 1, 1992 NNSC Section 5.23, Page 2 non-profit research organizations, and industry. Through CONCERT, North Carolina researchers from academia, govern- ment, and industry have access to these resources as well as electronic mail and USENET news for communications, learn- ing, and collaboration with colleagues. The CONCERT network is built from an interconnected collec- tion of IP routers spanning the state. T3 links are util- ized for the Triangle campuses; T1 circuits for institutions outside the Triangle area. More than 10,000 computers and workstations are interconnected across North Carolina. CONCERT-CONNECT CONCERT-CONNECT, a program of the MCNC Center for Communica- tions, provides North Carolina businesses and industry an opportunity to gain access to state and national research and education resources through the INTERNET. CONCERT- CONNECT can provide a company a significant competitive edge in research and development. Businesses and industry interested in connecting to CONCERT can use the network for collaboration, research, and educa- tion. Network connection provides users with access to email, bulletin boards, various databases, and other network and institutional resources. Connection to CONCERT can be achieved by direct network connection at 56 Kbps or T1 speeds, or by three dial-up modem services: Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP); individual UNIX accounts; UUCP Mail/News. COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH The primary purpose of the research activities is to lever- age the evolution of CONCERT to support advanced educational uses of the network and communications research in North Carolina. The existing network and established userbase is utilized as a testbed, and the focus of the research is joint activities among MCNC, the universities, and industry. Projects tend to emphasize use of standard network technolo- gies, supercomputing communications applications, and methods to use networking to enable collaboration by provid- ing virtual proximity capabilities. Currently Funded Projects: o+ Atila-development of a prototype network analysis- evaluation-management system for Asynchronous Transfer September 1, 1992 NNSC Section 5.23, Page 3 Mode networks. o+ VISTAnet-a testbed that provides a 2.488-Gbps wide area network connecting the CRAY Y-MP, the Pixel Planes graphic processor, and SGI 340 VGX. Research programs center on meeting the challenges of gigabit networking: efficient communications, distributed com- puting, and applications. (Partners: BellSouth, GTE, UNC-Chapel Hill, NCSU, CNRI.) o+ Shared X-Windows/Workstation Collaboratory-a joint program with NCSC and UNC-Chapel Hill emphasizing remote interactive graphics on high-end workstations located in CONCERT video- conference rooms. Advanced visualization applications and shared computing environments are featured. o+ Traffic Characterization-a study to measure and mathematically characterize the traffic statistics (packet length and interarrival times) of CONCERT. o+ Packet Video-seeks to make evolutionary changes to TCP/IP protocols to support interactive video traffic. _N_e_t_w_o_r_k _A_c_c_e_s_s Any research facility, educational institution, non-profit organization, government laboratory, commercial company, or individual may join the network under either education/research or commercial options. _W_h_o _C_a_n _U_s_e _t_h_e _N_e_t_w_o_r_k Use of CONCERT and/or the Internet is subject to appropriate acceptable use policies of the various constituent networks. CONCERT maintains agreements that permit both research/education organizations and commercial service pro- viders to connect to the Internet. September 1, 1992 NNSC Section 5.23, Page 4